Your ugali, milk and meat might be killing you softly, study.

A study released by the International Livestock Research
Institute (ILRI) in June showed that a large amount of milk and grains consumed
by Kenyans have aflatoxin levels exceeding internationally accepted limits.

The ILRI study established that Kenya had aflatoxin levels
of between 0.02 parts per billion (ppb) to 9661 ppb with positive samples
ranging from 75-100%. It found that that 72% of the milk from dairy farmers,
84% from large and medium-scale farmers and 99% of the pasteurised marketed
milk had aflatoxin, most of which exceeded the Food and Agricultural
Organisation (FAO) limit of 50 parts per trillion (ppb).

The survey further showed that 25 to 100% of feed in the
farms exceeded required five ppb while 87 to 100% of feeds bought from retailers
exceeded the limit.

Dubbed “Measuring and mitigating risk of mycotoxins in maize
and dairy products for poor consumers in Kenya”, the survey was done from
samples of livestock feeds collected from farmers in five counties.

Between 20-100% of feeds from manufacturers were above the
required five ppb.

Milk samples from those counties had 128.7-1675 parts per
trillion of aflatoxin with at least 55% of samples exceeding 50 ppb and six per
cent above 500 ppb.

The study also indicated that consumers of cereal products
are at high risk of aflatoxin exposure following prolonged humidity in the
country and poor grain storage among smallholder farmers.

“Households are consuming unprecedented levels of aflatoxin,
a carcinogenic substance, hence putting their lives in danger while hampering
efforts to reduce the country’s growing cancer burden,” said lead researcher
Johana Lindahl.

Apart from being the leading cause of liver cancer, acute aflatoxicosis
can lead to depression, anorexia, weight loss, disease, gastrointestinal
bleeding, pulmonary edema and stunted growth especially in children.

“Kenya is a hotspot for aflatoxin contamination, especially
in maize, and farmers, traders and the general public need to be educated on
the dangers and simple prevention measures,’’ said Lindahl.

However, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research
Organisation (KALRO) Director General Eliud Kireger dismissed the report as
alarmist, saying that most Kenyans could have died if that was the case.